


We won, we lost- we drown

by Dorthea



Series: Whumptober 2020 [5]
Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Caves, Drowning, Emotional Hurt, Flash Thompson Needs a Hug, Good Friend Ned Leeds, Hurt, Hurt Peter, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, Michelle Jones Needs a Hug, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Ned Leeds Needs a Hug, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Peter Parker is a Mess, Protective Ned Leeds, Rain, Teen Peter Parker, Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, Worried Ned Leeds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:48:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26993176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dorthea/pseuds/Dorthea
Summary: They won. That was the important thing. They made it. With every bone in their body they though to outsmart their opponent and won. That was all Peter could ask for. Wining.  Between everything that had been going on, all of them needed that win.But wining meant they got a prize. This time, that prize where a trip into a cave system.He should have known, it would go wrong. It was a field trip after all. Field trips with Peter Parker, always went wrong.They’d won. But they’d also lost, so, so, badly.Whumptober 2020. Day 13. Delayed drowning.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Whumptober 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1951294
Comments: 12
Kudos: 110
Collections: Peter Parker's Tales, Whumptober 2020





	We won, we lost- we drown

They won. That was the important thing. They made it. With every bone in their body they though to outsmart their opponent and won. That was all Peter could ask for. Wining. Between everything that had been going on, all of them needed that win. After the elevator accident, they needed it. After homecoming, they needed it. After the snap followed by the blip, they needed it. And after Mysterio they needed it. And they got it. The win. Got to show the world, that they still stood strong. Stronger than ever, maybe even.  
  
It only got better by the fact, that is wasn’t some small win. They had left New York. They had won in DC. And they had gotten to the biggest, most important of the competitions. The final shot. And they’d won. They where the best decathlon team in all of the US!  
  
That only made things feel even better.  
  
But now, it felt like they’d lost, again. And really, they probably had. Maybe not the competition, but they life. And no one would know till it was too late.  
  
Wining meant they got a prize. This time, that prize where a trip into a cave system. A chance to see cave pictures, bat’s, and experience how things where underground. See a different part of the world, that usually was closed off to the public. But they got to see it.  
  
And everyone had been excited. Abe and Cindy had been studying the place for months. Dreaming of wining. Hoping to see something cool, where things couldn’t go wrong. They’d read so much, that Peter wasn’t even sure how they remembered it all. Sally and Charles hadn’t been as happy. Charles the least actually. They where glad to get out of the rain, sure. But they weren’t really paying attention to anything inside the cave. Mr. Harrington, being Mr. Harrington, where his usually happy energetic self. No surprise there. Even Ned and Peter himself, had been happy for the prize. It weren’t spider-maning, or a trip to space. But it was just what he needed after whole the trail and getting his name cleared. And MJ, she’d been MJ. Her nose in a book. But, she’d joined them in the cave. That was unexpected, and new. And, really? Peter didn’t care to think of Flash Thompson.  
  
He should have known, it would go wrong. It was a field trip after all. Field trips with Peter Parker, always went wrong. And he wished, he’d agreed with Pepper that the prize should have been a trip to Stark Industries. That couldn’t have gotten this wrong. But he’d said no. Don’t touch our decathlon stuff, the cave is perfect, Mrs. Stark.  
  
They’d won. But they’d also lost, so, so, badly.  
  
In one of the cave’s inner arear, there where water. So to allow them to get future into the cave, there had been created small bridges, that was almost, floating in the water. Really. It was pretty. The light’s installed on the walls reflecting in the surface, making it look almost magical.  
  
It was enough to get even Sally to lift her head with a big ‘woah’ getting out through a breath.  
  
It made MJ look even pretty than normally. Making her brown hair pop, and glow. Making her darker skin stand out. Making her look almost like a goddess. Her smile perfecting it.  
  
At the end of the wooden bridge, the cave had gone slightly up. And with slightly, Peter meant a lot. Without his ability to stick, he wouldn’t have been able to make it up. And the other students, and their teacher, had trouble as well. Not just because of the low lighting. But because of the steepness of the climb.  
  
But at the top, deep inside the cave, they sat down to eat their lunch. Before they’d have to turn around and go back home. To the surface of earth. Leaving the caves behind.  
  
What where supposed to be half an hour lunch, soon became not one, but two hours. With laughter and stories and fun between the team. Talking about everything they wanted to see, when they finally got out of Midtown high. About what university they wanted to go to. Planning a yearly event where the team would meet up. You know, classic, ‘we’re done here soon’ talk. That always filled the hallway up to graduation. And Peter couldn’t believe he made it.  
  
Packing up, getting their lunch paper stuffed in the bottom of their backpacks, juice boxes emptied, they made their way slowly and steadily back down. Which seem easier to everyone.  
  
But instead of coming down from the steep climb, and walking onto the wooden bridge for their travels back to the surface, their feet where hit by icy cold water. That seem to cover not just the bridge, but most of the cave floor as well.  
  
“Dammit” Mr. Harrington mumbled. “The rain must be filling the cave from the outside”.  
  
“How are we supposed to get out now?” Abe asked, looking around and meeting everyone’s eyes. The wooden bridge had been stable enough to get them in, but would it be stable enough when there was also water pressure on top? Would they slip and fall into the deep water in the middle of the usually magical looking cave, with no way of getting back up because of cold and icy water would make them unable to move. Paralyze them. “We can’t just swim through it”.  
  
Mr. Harrington shrugged, “Maybe it’s better if we climb back up, and wait for the water levels to fall again” he suggested, looking between the slightly shocked students. That while, this was nothing like in DC, most like though this to be the end.  
  
Mr. Harrington doesn’t even wait for a reply before he turns back towards the steep climb. One foot in front of the other, as it makes his way up once again. Only to slip a new feet in the air. The new wet shoes making a difficult task, impossible. Making the climb unsafe, and dangerous.  
  
Peter shakes his head, right about now he’d love to have his web shooters. “It’s too dangerous Mr. Harrington! Someone’s bound to get hurt if we try that”. Mr. Harrington looks at him from the floor, where’s he landed on his ass, now wet on the pants legs too, before giving him a stiff nod.  
  
“We could just, try and walk on the wooden bridge out” Ned says, “If we’re careful it should be fine” he says while taking a careful step out onto the wooden platform.  
  
But it’s clearly swaying under his weight, dangerously so. Threatening with throwing him in the water. They might make it, one by one. The smaller students at least. MJ, Sally, Abe, Cindy and Peter. But rest of the team would be left to drown. Unless, of course. The people who could get out, was able to go get help. But there was no telling how long it would be before the water had risen to much, for them to be safely rescued.  
  
They’d gone in together; they’d go out together too.  
  
Mr. Harrington shakes his head, “That doesn’t look safe at all either. Anyone who got a signal on their phone?”.  
  
As the team scramble for their phones, Peter fishes a small earpiece up from his pocket. He doesn’t know if Karen has any signal down here, but if anyone does, it’s her.  
  
Placing it carefully in his ear, he can already hear the static noise from the earpiece. “Karen, do you have any signal down here?” Peter asks. He doesn’t care to make his voice low in this situation. If they died it wouldn’t matter if his identity stayed a secret or not.  
  
Karen’s voice replies slowly and glitzing in and out. “I’m here Peter. How may I help you?”.  
  
“Call Mr. Stark please” Peter asks, “Tell him that whole the team is stuck in a cave. Water rising quickly. With no way out!”. And then Peter waited for Karen to reply. But what had once been a bad connection, seemed to be no connection at all now, and Karen didn’t reply. Not a single word. No confirmation that she’d heard him, and she’d take contact to Mr. Stark. Just silence.  
  
“No connection” Ned confirms, standing with his phone.  
  
“What if we never get out?” Sally asks in a panicked voice, “What if we die in here?!”.  
  
Cindy takes a step closer to the panicked girl, “I’m sure someone will come looking for us. They know we’re here. We aren’t going to die”.  
  
MJ nods, “We wont die”.  
  
Charles who earlier hadn’t been paying any attention was too starting to look scared and panicked. “But we aren’t supposed to confirm that we got out” he says, (so he had listen a little), “They wont know we’re here unless we somehow get a message out!”.  
  
“Uhm…” Ned gives Peter an apologetic look, ”Peter might be able to get a message out”.  
  
Mr. Harrington shakes his head, “Ned, Peter’s a kid. He can’t get a message out any easier than I can. Right, Peter?”.  
  
Peter shakes his head, “Ned might be right…” he looks over the water slowly filling up the cave, “I could climb the celling. Get close enough to the surface that I can contact Karen. Get help down here. But just getting up the steep part of the cave was a struggle; I don’t seem to stick very well here”.  
  
Flash eye’s widen from where he’s standing. “Your spider-man!?”.  
  
“That’s all you get from what he just said?” MJ asks in disbelief, “Unbelievable”.  
  
Mr. Harrington shakes his head, “I as the teacher as full responsibility over all the students. Superpowered or not” he looks to Peter. “If you aren’t a hundred precent curtain you can do it. You don’t try. I won’t lose another student on a school trip”.  
  
Peter nods, “I understand”.  
  
“I’ve read singing can help with anxiety. So” Mr. Harrington says, voice energetic “Let’s sing!”. It’s the first time ever he seems to know what he’s doing. Maybe after Europe he read up?  
  
Ned gives a quiet nods and starting singing one of the many weird science songs Mr. Harrington have showed them in class. “I understand the force and energy. Quantum mechanics and relativity”.  
  
Abe keeps it going “My field it pure, and they rely on me”.  
  
“I see the universe like nobody” Mr. Harrington sings along.  
  
Peter, while knowing the song, doesn’t join in. He got a decent voice. He knows how to sing. But he can’t seem to focus on that right now. He’s feet are wet and cold. He can distantly hear the heavy rain that seems to have no intention to stop any time soon. And he knows, that if they don’t get out, they’ll drown. Soon enough the water will be so high, that they’re force to swim. But they got nowhere to go. And with how cold the water feels around his feet, there’s no way they’ll be able to stay in it for very long. There’s no real hope.

***

The cave looks and feels a lot smaller, when you got water to your shoulder’s. All technology in backpacks destroyed a long time ago, and close being soaked. And Peter, doesn’t quite understand how it happened so fast. They’d only been there for a few hours. Not very long at all, but the water seem to rise faster and faster.  
  
Peter’s best guess would be that the water portion of the cave, was connected to more than one cave entrance, somewhere. Meaning, water was filling in multiple places.  
  
“My gloves” Flash hits a high note, “They make me safe around chemicals”.  
  
“The chemicals” Abe echo’s slightly behind. He’s the smallest one, and the water has already reached his neck, and he’s clearly scared of what’s going to happen next. Because the water is still rising. Peter can hear the rain as it only grows stronger.  
  
It’s too late to try and crawl out of the cave. Far too late. Peter wouldn’t be able to stick in the rainy weather. And soaked in water.  
  
“We’re all gonna die” Ned is chanting somewhere behind Peter. The lights went out a long time ago. There’s no way of seeing much of anything, but if they could it would be colorful jackets floating in the water. Cloth the team once had one, but thrown off, so the cold water wouldn’t stick to them as much. It had worked a little, but soon enough the water have gotten even higher, stopping the lack of cloth from helping anything.  
  
Peter could literally feel his body going stiff already. Ice forming inside his bones. His body running out of energy. Eyes slowly starting to slid close. “Ned… did I ever tell you Spiders don’t do well in the cold?” he says with clicking teeth.  
  
“No, you didn’t” Ned replies, grabbing Peter under the arm as Peter feels his knees buckle. “Let me guess, you can’t thermoregulate?” Peter shakes his head weakly, being held up by Ned. “I’m sure help is coming”.  
  
Peter isn’t going to say it, but he isn’t sure he’ll make it till help is coming.  
  
He can barely stand as is, having to swim or float in the icy water, isn’t going to be any easier. And he’s not the only one who’s starting to have problems.  
  
Hell, everyone is shaking and weak after being in the water for so long.  
  
Most, probably giving up hope.  
  
Peter isn’t even sure how it happens. But he’s slipping for a while. Ned losing grip on him. And Peter sinks future and future down into the water. He can feel it on his chin. Slowly going up to his lips and mouth. But he’s so cold now, that he doesn’t really feel it. Actually, it feels like he’s burning up. Which, he isn’t right? They aren’t getting boiled? He’s pretty sure they aren’t. But he could be wrong.  
  
Black spots are dancing in front of him, he his slips the final way down Ned’s hold. His head dipping under the surface. His curls sticking to his head.  
  
Peter has no power left to fight his way back to the surface for oxygen.  
  
He hold his breath for a long as he can. His lungs stinging from the panic and lack of air. And soon enough he gasps. Not other choice, than to listen to his body. But he doesn’t get any air. Only water into his mouth, salty and dry in a weird way. And after that it flows in through his nose as well. Slowly dripping into his lungs. Air bubbles floating to the surface. And he can feel his chest tighten and tighten. Making it harder and harder to breath. To move.  
  
  
Peter wants to scream.  
  
Darkness pulls him under before he can…  
  
A light flash in front of his eyes. Heat. Vibrations. Safety.

***  
Peter sits up with a desperate gasp. Sucking in air, in panicked breaths. Trying to piece together where the hell he is.  
  
The cave filling with water is flashing before his eyes. The scared and tired faces of his teammates, filling his head, as he takes deep breath. “It’s okay Kiddo. It’s okay”. Tony.  
  
“T-Tony?” Peter rasps out, blinking around the room, till he sees Tony right in front of him. Holding his hands close, so Peter can’t hit out in panic. “W-what happened? Where a-am I?”.  
  
Tony takes a deep breath, relief clear on his face, “Karen called me. Said something happened. You kid, where clinically dead for 5 minutes. God, kid. I though I lost you!” Tony almost sobs.  
  
“My team?” Peter asks.  
  
Tony nods, “Of course” Tony breaths carefully, “They fine. Them being able to thermoregulate helped tones. Helped me get you out the water. Get you to safety. Before me and Rhodey went back for them. They are a little cold, but otherwise okay. Med bay 12, if you want to see them. But Cho has to check you over first”. Tony shakes his head, “You scared me kid”.  
  
“Sorry” Peter mumbles and let’s himself lean into his mentors touch.


End file.
